


Genuine Human Affection

by PoshNoah



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Comfort Fluff, Cross is hungover, Cross is kidnapped by the Noahs, Cuddling, Cuddling & Snuggling, Enemies and Lovers, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Intense Kissing, Kissing, M/M, Non-Explicit Sexual Content, Rare Pairings, The Earl is a little touch starved, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, as always, but he also doesn’t want Cross’s love, but he does!, but he doesn’t, but the kissing just gets a little too feisty, oh but he does!!!, old men in love!!!, there’s like no actual sex, this is entirely self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 08:53:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25348021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoshNoah/pseuds/PoshNoah
Summary: Waking up with a hangover sucks, especially when that hangover is caused by a holy bullet to the head.But now that Cross is trapped in the Noah’s Ark, he mind as well catch up with an old enemy to pass the time.
Relationships: Cross Marian/Sennen Hakushaku | Millennium Earl
Kudos: 10





	Genuine Human Affection

Marian’s head pounded. He clutched onto his skull and rubbed his fingers into the bone in an attempt to massage his own brain. It was one of the worst migraines he’d ever experienced, not even a hangover from one of his many week long bar hopping binges could compare.

But it was to be expected, after all. Nobody in their right mind would assume that getting shot in the head was painless. 

He’d just woken up, thinking that maybe what he experienced was nothing more than some nightmare. But after realizing that his innocence was gone, he knew that it hadn’t been a dream. The horrible splitting pain in his head could attest to that as well.  
Cross had no clue where he was at the moment, his first guess was hell, but he figured that despite how dark and mythic in appearance the area was, the pleasant cushion that he was placed on was too good to be something from down under. But who knows, maybe the devil wanted to show him a good time.  
His second guess was some sort of torture chamber that the cardinal dragged his body off to after it had taken his innocence. But that was pretty unlikely.

So, with little other choice, Marian groaned and crawled off of the bed while making sure that his head was jostled as minimally as possible. Once he managed to find his bearings and stand up, he noticed that he was barefoot. The floor was way too cold for his liking! It almost made him want to climb back into the nice warm bed. Cross quickly felt around his whole body, making sure that it was just his feet that’d been bare. Luckily, it seemed that whoever dragged him here had put him into a clean pair of pajamas. He’d been worried for a second that he was entirely stripped. Not that Cross had any problems with being naked, mind you!

Marian reached his hands around himself, trying to feel if there was a wall he could lean on, but to no avail. So he just held onto his head and marched forward.  
As he walked, Marian took notice of how strange the darkness looked. It was almost as if the void around him was sparkling, like stars in the night. The scene reminded the man of two other places he knew quite well. The dream world of a certain little demon child, and the inside of the buildings within that dusty old ark the Earl had.  
Cross froze in place for a moment.  
Was…. he in the ark? Cross’ mind hung onto this question for a moment, and took it with him as he started to walk again. Maybe the Noah swooped in to steal his limp almost-corpse at the last second? It wasn’t impossible, but Cross didn’t exactly know how to feel about being at the mercy of the Noah. 

‘Though…’ He thought to himself, ‘I wouldn’t mind seeing that old man again.’ A sly smile curled it’s way onto Cross’ face.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of hobbling his way through a pitch black room, that had to be at least a yard in length by the way, Cross felt himself bump into a wall. He felt along the surface of it and eventually found something that felt like a door. He quickly searched for a handle and struggled for a moment, only finding it once he clumsily hit his hand on it. He winced but didn’t waste any time to open the door.

Once it creaked open, a wave of light hit Marian’s face, flat out assaulting his retinas and making his already pounding headache hurt even more. He covered his eyes for a moment and adjusted his glasses that his captors had so graciously let him keep. He let his sight adjust to the light a bit before looking around the area the door had led him into. He had walked into a long hallway. Now that Cross could get a good look at what the place looked like, he knew for sure that this was the Ark.  
Despite the fact that the Earl had the ark remade, it seems he didn’t have the interior redesigned all that much. So after taking one last look around, Cross marched onwards, well… if you could call pained hobbling “marching”. 

He kept going until he came face to face with a large door.  
With not much else to do other than walk around some more, Marian decided to open it. Once he took his first step into the room ahead, he couldn't help but feel an uncanny sense of familiarity. Cross grinned at this feeling.  
‘This has to be where he is.’ Cross thought as he continued to walk, wobbling a lot less now, since he’d gotten a bit used to the pain.

This room was similar to the one he’d woken up in. There wasn’t any sort of walls, just a wide open void with stars scattered throughout. However unlike his room, this one was a lot brighter, which made navigation far less annoying.  
The floor was a white, almost transparent path that led to a single bed sitting in the middle of the starry sky. Cross couldn’t help but notice that the bed was currently occupied. So he, being the nosy, as well as intrusive man that he is, approached the bed. Though he didn’t bother to be quiet about it, he really didn’t care if the person woke up.

With each step he took, Coss could make out a few more features on the sleeping figure. They were very clearly a Noah, and had a more masculine physique. It didn’t take long for the general to come to the conclusion that his earlier suspicion was correct.

Wrapped up in a mound of blankets was a familiar old man with gray skin and dark hair. Cross couldn’t get a good look at his face because it was hidden underneath even more blankets. But it was unmistakably him, the Millennium Earl.

Marian decided to make his presence known to the sleeping beast.  
“Nap times over, dearest Millennium!”

But the resting mound didn’t move an inch. 

Cross wasn’t a man known for personal space, so he had no qualms with plopping himself down onto the end of the bed and shaking the slumbering beast. This managed to get a reaction out of the mound as a groan erupted from the man within it.

The Earl revealed his face as he turned over onto his back, his eyes cracked open slightly to stare at the menace who woke him.

“Rise and shine princess.” Cross chuckled. It’s been years since he’s seen the Earl’s human face, and it’s just as tired and worn out as he remembered. His dark hair was messy and sprawled out, several strands stuck to his face. His stubble looked as though it hadn’t been cleaned up in quite a while. 

The Earl groaned as he sat up. “Marian? What are you doing in my room?” He grumbled, rubbing his eyes.

“Oh, you know, I was just taking a tour of my new prison.” The General mused. “I just found my way here by pure luck.” Cross started scanning the bed over once more, realizing that something was missing. “Hm, where’s Road?”

The question gained an immediate response from the Earl, but in the form of his silence and the slight watering of his eyes. “...she’s… she’s been destroyed by Apocryphos.” The older man whimpered.

Cross closed his eyes and nodded. “Temporarily I assume?” 

Adam nodded.

Marian gazed at the somber Earl, pitying the monster, he really relied on that girl so much. Cross, despite all his past scrimishes with the Earl, felt a warmth towards the man. The last time the General was this close with the Earl was shortly after Adam returned from Mana.  
He remembered it like it was yesterday. The Earl was an utter mess. Confused and disoriented with his new situation, he came to Cross of all people for comfort. He needed a kind of comfort that his dear Noah couldn’t have given him.  
Perhaps he needed that kind of comfort right now. 

Cross got a bit closer to the other man. Adam stayed put as he hazily gazed at the General approaching him. He peeled the blankets off of himself, revealing his green pajamas. Once he was close enough, Cross tilted his head forward and pressed his lips against Adam’s own. In return, Adam parted his lips and let the other man’s tongue slide into his mouth.

Cross straddled himself onto Adam, his knees on either side of the other's body. He squeezed his legs around Adam’s hips as his tongue explored the man’s mouth. In the heat of the moment, Cross ground his hips down onto Adam’s own, putting friction against both of their-

“Mrph!” Adam grunted before pulling away, his tongue slipping out of Cross’s mouth. Cross slid off of Adam, noticing the other man’s discomfort. Adam’s face was flushed a soft red, he averted his eyes to the side, looking down in shame.

“My, my, you’re a lot more needy than I thought.” Cross purred, placing a hand on the Earl’s jaw. Fingers started running along a stubbly face, lifting the old man’s head up ever so slightly as he did. He kept going until just the tips of his fingers were pressed against the very edge of his chin. Cross then pushed his thumb up against the Earl’s bottom lip, rubbing it ever so slightly. A satisfied smirk curled onto Cross’s lips when Adam let out a whine.

“You were already pining for your precious fourteenth, and now your dear little guardian has gone away… What a sad, sad state you must be in.” Cross cooed as he kept caressing the Earl’s face.  
Adam hummed, leaning into Cross’ hand. Clearly he was getting used to the attention.  
But Marian wouldn’t let him stay like that for long. He removed his hand and got up off the bed.  
“Well, I supposed I should go back to my “cell” now, hm? After all, I am your prisoner.”  
But before he could start to walk away, a hand reached out and grasped his own. Cross glanced down at the hands owner, while still wearing that ever present smirk. 

“Don’t leave yet.”  
The Earl said softly, then after realizing just how vulnerable he sounded, he straightened up and cleared his voice. “You’re not allowed to leave. You’re my prisoner, so I shall be keeping watch over you.”  
The Earl attempted to harden his glare, but Marian could still see that pleading look in his eye. 

“So the mighty Millennium Earl really does desire comfort?” Cross chuckled as he climbed back onto the bed, shifting closer.

Adam looked down, scrunching up his nose a bit. “Quiet.” This earned another laugh from Cross.

Marian sat back down and inched ever closer to the Earl, placing a hand on the others knee. He looked into the golden eyes of his greatest enemy, and he smiled.  
It wasn’t a sly smile, or a condescending smirk, but the most genuine smile that the General could give. 

Adam, still refusing to make eye contact, grunted.  
“Don’t try anything funny again, or else I’ll put you in a proper prison.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it! You think so lowly of me!” Marian faked shock and disgust, then chuckled softly. He leaned in just a tad bit closer to the Earl and almost whispered.  
“No, don’t worry. There would be no point in trying to hurt you now.”

Adam finally raised his head and looked into Marian’s eyes. Golden irises met scarlet, and the Earl couldn’t keep up a glare if he tried.  
“Good.” Was all he could think to say.

Adam laid back down on the bed and curled up on his side.  
Cross took his glasses off and placed them close to the top of the bed, since there was no side table. He needed to get comfortable if he was gonna snuggle up with the maker of Akuma himself. So Marian crawled underneath the blankets, well… the sliver of blanket that Adam let him have anyway, and curled up right behind the Earl.

That wasn’t enough for Cross though, he wanted to be just a liiittle bit closer. So he snaked his arms around Adam’s waist and hugged him tight. Earning a somewhat offended noise from the man. 

“What did I just tell you?”

“Relax! It’s just a hug. You aren’t afraid of being a little spoon are you?” Cross joked. 

The Earl mumbled something incomprehensible before slightly readjusting himself in Cross’s arms.  
Cross took this as an opportunity to slide his hands underneath the Earl’s pajama top, and run his fingers along the skin of his stomach, tangling through every hair. Adam certainly wasn't overweight, but he had this wonderful tummy that must come with age. 

The Earl audibly sighed, sounding rather annoyed. “You’re a lot of trouble…” 

“I know~” Cross had not an ounce of shame.  
But Marian knew not to go further and started to retract the hands, but Adam wasn’t having it. He held the exorcist’s hands in place. 

“No, you had your chance to escape, you’re mine now.” The way the Earl spoke almost made it sound like he was smiling.

Marian grinned widely. “Whatever shall I do now that the mighty Millennium Earl has captured me!” He laughed, hugging Adam even tighter. He smashed his nose into the crook of Adam’s neck, inhaling deeply. The Earl always smelled like a bakery full of fresh goods.

The Earl reached a hand back and rested it in Cross’s crimson hair, stroking it gently. 

“There isn’t a single thing you can do about it, exorcist❤️” The Earl finally spoke with that signature coo in his voice. Earning a laugh from the other.

“No, I suppose there isn’t.”

**Author's Note:**

> It’s my fic and I can write gentle old man love if I want! 
> 
> Seriously though if you read to the end then that hopefully means that you are either one of the few Adam x Cross shippers, or I convinced you into liking it, haha~  
> Or you were just curious :p
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Comments are appreciated!


End file.
